Sunday, May 15, 2016

BLACK PEOPLE, DON'T BE FOOLS - A VOTE FOR HILLARY CLINTON IS JUST SHORT OF A VOTE FOR DONALD TRUMP

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I wrote the article below in October of 2007 when Hillary Clinton was running against the, then, Senator Barack Obama - and BEFORE I had thoroughly researched Bill Clinton's political history and how he had signed the most draconian crime bill in the history of the United States, created the prison industrial complex that led to the mass incarceration of Black people, and substituted building prisons in lieu of urban housing developments for the poor - and this is NOT just an allegation. Once he and Hillary decided that they wanted to get back into the White House, Bill went before the NAACP and apologized for it. Yet, now, in 2016, Hillary is depending on the Black community to give her the Democratic nomination to run for President of the United States. If we do that, we're idiots, and our minds are still chained next to the mule that we were tied to in the 18th Century. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/hillary-clinton-1994-crime-bill-led-mass-incarceration-article-1.2594729.

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YOUR DOG WHISTLE BETRAYS YOU, HILLARY. WHAT

ABOUT THE "INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY" OF THE POLICE AND

WALL STREET COMMUNITY?

Black people were conned into giving Bill Clinton our full and passionate support after he went on the Arsenio Hall Show in dark glasses and a saxophone. We even started calling him "The First Black President." Then some of the first things he did after he was elected was cut Black people's throats by throwing Black men in prison, sending our jobs overseas, and taking away the much needed assistance of poor Black people by throwing them off of welfare, just to prove that he wasn't "soft on coons." We've been conned once, let's not be stupid enough to let it happen again. Hillary Clinton was an ardent supporter of Barry Goldwater, a man who pledged to rescind the Civil Rights Act if elected, and nothing has changed about her.As a member of the Walmart board of Directors for 6 years, she didn't lift a finger while Walmart was dragging their workers through the mud. And during the 2008 primaries Bill Clinton told Ted Kennedy of Barack Obama, "A few years ago this guy would have been carrying our bags." So if Black people do turn out to be stupid enough to give Hillary the nomination, when we start whining over the inevitable consequences, America should give us a resounding, "SHUT THE HELL UP!"

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JUST BECAUSE THE NAME IS CLINTON, DOESN’T MEAN YOU’RE GONNA GET BILL (REPRISE)

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I was both embarrassed and conflicted by a CBS News poll that showed Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama 52% to 28% among Black voters. I was conflicted because my emotions seemed to directly contradict my position that the new struggle in this country is no longer about race, but class, and I stand by that position. Nevertheless, it is extremely embarrassing to know that the rest of the world has just got to being snickering over the Black tendency towards self-hatred--and let there be no doubt about it, that’s exactly what the numbers above reflect.
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It is contrary to my character and antithetical to everything that I believe to suggest that anyone cast a vote based on race alone--after all, if White people voted race alone, Black politicians would never win an election outside the Black community. But it seems to me that this election, and Senator Barack Obama in particular, represents a very special circumstance. It’s a confluence of factors coming together that demand Black people to unite and assure we’re on the right side of history.
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Senator Barack Obama is not just another Black politician--he’s intelligent, he’s personable, and his political instincts are flawless. In fact, his sense of class, dignity, and propriety places him so high above the rest of the pack that the other politicians don’t know what to do with him. He is so well thought of by the American people--Democrat, Republican, and Independents alike—that it is clear that he possesses that very special, JFK-like quality that could bring this nation together. I see the candidacy of Senator Obama as an opportunity—and quite possibly our last opportunity--to recapture the best of what America is as a nation, and we are as a people. I’d say, that alone, speaks volumes.
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Admittedly, I’m far from one who’s qualified to speak for God, but it seems to me that considering all that Black people have suffered in this country--including being called ignorant, classless, and untrustworthy--if God handpicked the kind of man that he thought should represent our people in this country, Senator Obama would be that man. He is the walking personification of everything we know our people to be--even his heritage, the marriage of Africa and America, is a metaphor for who we are as a people. Yet he trails in the polls, among our own people, by 24%. What’s up with that?
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I have no problem with Hillary--in fact, if she wins this nomination I’ll be right out there supporting her enthusiastically--right along side Barack, I’m sure. But what makes Hillary so special that we would support her over a dream that goes back as far as the African-American culture itself? The numbers mentioned above can reflect nothing less than a flaw in our character. Think about it--what do we actually know about Hillary other than she’s married to Bill? I was married to a wonderful woman for thirty-three years, yet, we were as different as night and day. So, just because the name is Clinton, doesn’t mean we’re gonna get Bill. And even if Hillary is identical to Bill, who’s to say that a President Barack Obama wouldn’t stand head and shoulders above even Bill Clinton himself? Bill was an excellent president [Man, was I in the dark!] but he was far from the Messiah.
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We’ve simply got to have faith in ourselves. If we don’t, who will? If Black people don’t have faith in the fact that we are capable of producing a leader with the capacity to lead our people and this nation to a higher level of humanity and leadership in the world, why should anyone else believe in us? And if Barack Obama is not that man--with his background as the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review, his demonstrated courage to stand up against invading Iraq during a time when it was unpopular to do so, and the flawless political judgment that has propelled him to the very apex of power in a nation where all the cards were stacked against him--then what Black man (or woman, for that matter) among us is?
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Some Black people seem to be actively seeking a reason not to support this man. For the lack of any other excuse, they say he lacks experience--but experience at what? Where has experience gotten us so far? Hillary Clinton has experience that goes all the way back to the Nixon era, but that didn’t prevent her from voting to give George Bush the power to take us into the most foolhardy war that this country has ever been involved. Then, after conceding that she made an error, she repeated the error in voting for the Kyle-Lieberman Amendment against Iran.
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On the other hand, Obama, this so-called "political novice," had the wisdom to tell America, once again, that we were giving a man who can't be trusted a free hand to be foolhardy--once again. And now, recent revelations in the news tell us that he was right--once again. So I'd say, inexperience notwithstanding, Senator Obama seems to be batting a thousand.
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The inexperienced Senator Obama also stands poised to hand control of political power back to the American people. He’s demonstrated single-handedly that the people can come together and more than compete with big business as a source of political funding. Obama has raised more money through small donations from average Americans than the "more experienced" politicians have managed to raise through their corporate masters. That means that Americans now have a fighting chance of electing politicians that are more beholden to them, than they are big business (and mark my words--you can look for big business to sponsor some sort of legislation in the future to try to close that egregious loophole) [and true to my prediction, shortly thereafter we got citizens united].
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Thus, regardless to how this campaign turns out, whether Obama wins, or falls short in his effort, he’s already performed an immeasurable service to the American people by demonstrating that politicians don’t have to be beholding to big business. Someday, when all of this is looked back upon, Obama’s contribution is going to be recognized as one of the most valuable gifts to America in modern history. I’d say, that alone is a pretty impressive accomplishment for a guy with no experience. Now I ask you, what have any of the more "experienced" politicians done to change the face of American politics lately?
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So the bottom line is, considering Senator Obama’s Character, political savvy, and the fact that he’s the very first viable Black presidential candidate in the history of this nation, to say that he’s not ready to be president is to say that no Black person is ready to be president of the United States. If you happen to be Black and not willing to take that position, in order to be logically consistent you have to be prepared to come up with the name of a Black person who you consider more viable and qualified to be president. If you can’t do that, you’re in denial, and on the wrong side of history.
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It's hard to understand the Black community. Never in my most horrific nightmare did I ever think I’d have to mount such a self-evident argument to my own people regarding a viable Black candidate. As I sit here I imagine Martin, Malcolm, and a million slaves spinning in their graves, saying, "I died for this! What’s wrong with those idiots?" I also imagine racists of the past taunting these great men, saying, "We told you--y’all were fools."
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But as sad as this situation is, it brings to mind an old joke--a very old but profound joke, so bear with me: There was a guy stranded on his roof during a flood, and the water was rising fast. In an attempt to try to save him, a group of people wanted to throw him a life preserver, but he turned it down, saying, "That’s ok. God will provide." Then they tried to save him in a boat, and later with a helicopter, but in each case he turned them down, saying, "That’s ok. The Lord will provide." Finally the water overtook him, and he drowned. Then, as the Devil was dragging him off to Hell, he looked up to God and said, "My Lord, how could desert me, and why am I going to Hell?" And God replied, "Man, I sent you a life preserver, a boat, and even a helicopter, and you refused them. You’re going to Hell because you committed suicide."
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That joke is a perfect example of what’s currently happening in the Black community. We’re being given the opportunity to bring both Martin’s dream, and the prayers that our people have whispered for hundreds of years into reality--the opportunity for Black children to say for the very first time, and with conviction, that "I‘m going to be president someday." For the first time, a Black child will be able to go through life knowing that he is the master of his own destiny. And just as important as all of the things mentioned above, finally, the losers and deadbeats in the Black community won’t be able to convince Black youth that failure is acceptable, because "it’s the White man’s fault." But in spite of all of that, some of us are so consumed with self-hatred that we’d rather cut our own throats before supporting one of our own for president.
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That is the reality, but if we allow this opportunity to pass us by, God would be completely justified in telling us to stop complaining and just shut-up whining about all our suffering. After all, God helps those who help themselves. ***
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Thursday, May 05, 2016

MY BIBLE IS ONLY ONE PAGE LONG, AND IT HAS ONLY THREE COMMANDMENTS
.1). LIVE THE BEST LIFE YOU CAN.
2). HELP OTHERS WHENEVER YOU CAN.
AND
3). MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS.

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BLACK PEOPLE HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT SLAVERY

IS A THING OF PAST, BUT OUR MINDS ARE FAR FROM FREE

African Americans were taught the Christian,'faith' while they were tied next to the mules and their mentors were actively engaged in the annihilation of as many as a 100 million Native Americans. So it's obvious that our persecutors didn't believe in their own teachings, and it's easy to understand why.
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The Bible that Christians Worship today was compiled and “blessed” by the Catholic Church, not God. The "Holy Spirit," Pope Damasus I, at the Council of Rome in 382, issued a decree appropriately called, "The Decree of Damasus," in which he listed the canonical books of both the Old and New Testaments. He then asked St. Jerome to use this canon and to write a new Bible translation which included an Old Testament of 46 books, which were all in the Septuagint, and a New Testament of 27 books. During that time any book that disagreed with the teachings of the Catholic Church was banned, and anyone who challenged those teachings could be tortured and killed. It's almost as though man created God in man's own narrow-minded image instead of the reverse. And isn't it interesting that God tends to have all of the prejudices and shortcomings of man? For example, according to most religious teachings, God is a virulent sexist, just like man, even though he gave women - not man - the ability to create and nurture life. Man tries to explain all of that away to me, but it just doesn't make sense to the mind that I KNOW God gave me. So who and what am I supposed to believe, what man says, or what God has done?
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So the fact is, what Christians call "The Holy Bible," and what Black preachers run around thumpin’ so passionately, wasn’t even put together until nearly 400 years after the death of Christ. Thus, everything in it is hearsay. In terms of years, when the Bible was compiled, they were nearly twice as far away from the life and times of Jesus Christ as we are away from the life and times of George Washington today. So in reality, they didn’t know fact from fiction, any more than we know whether or not George Washington actually chopped down a cherry tree. It was created as a political document, and it was "blessed" by bigoted White folks to promote their philosophy. And many of the stories in it could have been written by Mother Goose. For instance, if Adam and Eve were the first people on Earth and produced Cain and Abel, where did the people come from that Cain went to live with after he killed his brother? The Pope obviously didn't think that through very well. Nevertheless, Black people embrace these myths with such a fierce tenacity that it makes the "faith" of Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump pale in comparison.

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So Black people are in dire need of a thorough re-assessment of their attitudes and those things they take for granted. They also need to educate themselves in all areas of knowledge in order to gain confidence in their own ability to think, because they are worshiping a philosophy that is dedicated to the proposition that they are inferior. Just open your Bible and you won't see nothing but White folks - who were supposed to have been born in the desert. Are we so brain-drenched that, that doesn't tell us anything!!!?
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As a direct result of that brainwashing, as I write, many of us are currently voting for continued White supremacy, because our "Christian" brain-drenching has taught us to believe that "The Lord" wants us too. We're falling all over one another to be the first to vote for a woman whose husband created the most draconian crime bill in the history of the United States and used prisons as an urban housing program for Black people - and, with her full support. So if Black people don’t come to their senses we’re going to end up with a choice between Zig and Zag. Zig is Donald Trump, and Zag is Hillary Clinton. To paraphrase Mort Sahl back in the sixties, the only difference between the two is if Donald ‘Zig’ Trump sees a Black child lying in the street, he’d simply order his chauffeur to run over him. If Hillary ‘Zag’ Clinton saw the kid, she’d also order her chauffeur to roll over him, but she’d weep, and go apologize to the NAACP, after she felt the bump. So where are our minds? I'll tell you where they are - they're still tied up next to that mule in the 18th Century.
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So yes, I’ve developed my own Gospel, my own truth, and not a word of it comes from the mouth of another man, because I pay absolutely no attention to man. I determine God's will not by what man says, but by what God has done. And to atheists, yes, I do believe that God exists, because we exist. For me, God is whatever entity, or process, that is responsible for the existence of the universe, or what we call reality. So, since the universe does exist, that's evidence enough for me that God exists. Thus, if I exist, so does God, even if he, she, or it is simply the universe or nature itself. Now, that said, as we gaze upon this infinite universe, what evidence do you have that God is not nature itself, and that we are not a part of God?
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So again, yes, I've created my own religion, but unlike the religions of the social manipulators, my religion allows you to stay in bed and hug your wife on Sunday mornings and then spend the rest of the day enjoying your children instead of being mandated to get up and suffer through a paid spoken-word concert by some guy who doesn't know any more about God than you do; and we have no rituals, nor 'Born Again' hypocrites to contend with - you know, those people who use religion as a God-approved pretext to hate or look down their noses at everybody who don't look, think, and act like they do. While we don't wish such people any harm, it is our belief that the world would be a lot better off if many of these 'Born Again' hypocrites (Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Ted Cruz, etc.) wouldn't have been born the first time, and we don't believe that the very human philosopher, Jesus of Nazareth, would approve of such people at all. And finally, there's absolutely no begging in my religion, so there's not a preacher in sight. Thus, my religion is Heaven right here on Earth. We simply focus on trying to become better people, help each other whenever we can, and leave each other alone - and it doesn't take a volume of scriptures to do that, nor a collection plate.

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HOW A KID RAISED IN THE CHURCH CAME TO REJECT CHRISTIANITY

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I was recently in a discussion with a gentlemen on religion and he asked me, "You say you believe in God, and you seem to have Christian values, so why do you say you're not a Christian?" My answer was very simple - because God blessed me with common sense, and while I do have values, they're nothing like those that I've seen from so-called Christians, or any other religious group. So while I believe in God, I make it a point to keep the word of man out of anything that has to do with my spirituality. Again, for me, God is whatever force is responsible for creating what we call reality - period. That's all I have to know, and that's all I have to contemplate.
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An individual's organized religious beliefs are merely an accident of birth, and a form of socialization. The very same man who was born in Georgia, and who was raised to be a devout Christian, would more than likely be a devout Muslim if he'd been born in Iran, a devout Jew if he'd been born in Israel, or a devout Buddhist if he'd been born in China. So organized religion is nothing more, or nothing less, than a form of socialization, and it has absolutely nothing to do with God. In fact, religion is anti-God, because you can trace nearly every form of narrow-mindedness, hatred, and bigotry, directly back to man's religious beliefs. White supremacy is predicated on the belief that "God" sent a White Scandinavian to be born in the desert to lead mankind to the "Promise Land." That has a fundament impact on our thinking. It suggests that White skin is Godly. But the fact is, if Jesus had been White, they wouldn't have had to crucify him - he would have died of sunburn. But once you can get people to believe in walking dead men and talkin' snakes, you can get them to believe in anything - and they have.
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Thus, man uses religion to try to make himself feel special, as though he has some special connection to God, so by its very nature organized religion is discriminatory, not only toward other groups, but other creatures. From their point of view, it's not that they hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like themselves - it's just that God does. So their religious beliefs are used to both make themselves feel superior, and also, to validate their hatred and distrust of others unlike themselves. But from my point of view, since God created all things, what makes man think that God loves him any more or less than he does a parakeet? Thus, religion is nothing more than a reflection of man's arrogance.

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That's why a person's religious beliefs are nearly inseparable from his or her political beliefs. Many Christians don't believe in global warming, equality among people, that Jesus was Black (not that it matters, since he was just another insightful man, and nothing else), or that the Bible didn't prohibit the wholesale slaughter of up to 100 million native Americans, tying Black people up next to the mules, killing 6 million Jews, or dropping two atomic bombs on the innocent civilians of Japan. Christians claim that they did these things in the name of God - it was their "Manifest Destiny." What they do believe in, however, is quietly allowing, and even supporting, the ascent of a nasty, bigoted, and un-Godly man like Donald Trump. Many Christians believe that Trump came into our midst as a result of the will of God, which, of course, is complete nonsense, but their religious delusions and myths justify their hatred, anger, bigotry, and greed.
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Thus, religion is invariably used to validate the most malevolent part of man's nature. It allows his hatred, selfishness, and greed to be written off as God-approved, and with respect to Black people, it allows our apathy to be written off as justified - "All we have to do is sit and wait, because God is coming to our rescue." That was the position taken by many in the Black clergy who criticized Martin Luther King. They said his activity was stirring up unnecessary animosity toward the Black community, and that all he had to do was be patient and things would work themselves out.

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In that regard, what about Black people - why do they embrace this nonsense, and in many cases, even more passionately than Whites?
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Black people tend to be such devout Christians because they've been taught, first by slave masters, and then by rich, slick-talking Black preachers, that God's going to deliver justice upon them "by-and-by." But what they don't understand is, God did his part when he gave us a brain, and "God helps those who help themselves." That's the way of nature - God made birds to fly, fish to swim, and man to think. So you either do what you were created to do, or you perish - period. That's a fundamental law throughout the universe for all things that exist. If a planet drifts to close to it's parent star, it's over, and that's it. So as Black people, we are not going to be able to pray ourselves out of our current condition; we're going to have to think our way out of it, or we're not going to survive, because God created man to think, not conjure up stories about a walking dead man coming to our rescue. Dead men don't walk, and snakes don't talk in this universe - at least in our part of it. That's just not the way things work, and if you believe that it does, or even can work that way, you have more faith in what man says, than what God has done.
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HOW STUPID CAN YOU GET!!!?

But what makes people so passionate about their religion is it allows them to believe what's convenient for them to believe. That's why in spite of the atrocities that has been committed by this so-called "Christian nation" that have been listed above, we have Americans walking around with tears in their eyes talking about "God bless America." Such people represent a monument to man's capacity to delude himself. If we do an objective assessment of the atrocities committed by the United States in its relatively short existence, it will become immediately clear that this has been the most brutal and un-Godly nation in the history of humanity. Our historic record would make one think that the United States was founded by a cult of Devil worshipers - and this comes from a man who loves America. But I love what it can be, not what it is, or what it has been. So if we are ever to truly become the nation that our founding documents lie so eloquently about, it is a must that we begin to think clearly, and stop believing in talkin' snakes.

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Ephesians 6:5-9 says, "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ." Those are not my values - and for so-called "good Christians" to simply sit back and say, "We're praying on it" don't fly with me, because they’ve been "praying on it" for centuries now. That's one of the major reasons that Black people are in such dire straits - we're spending more time worshipping the philosophy of bigots than we are educating ourselves, and as a direct result, we've become "bligots" ourselves.

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PORTRAIT OF AN IDIOT

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THE CONVERSION

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"Come here nigga and let me teach yo crazy, animal ass about the Lord. The first thing you got to learn is to Love thy Neighbor . . . especially me."
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"Yes sir, Massa. Why would anybody not love you, Sir? You so good to me, Massa. Anybody don't love you needs to have dey ass beat real good, Massa."
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"Shut up, nigga. I'm talkin'."
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"Listen, you been blessed already, and you don't even know the Lord. The Lord made it where you don't have to worry 'bout a thing. I feed you, I put clothes on yo nasty ass, and I give you a shed to sleep in, and all you have to do is whatever the hell I tell you to. Do you know how blessed you are?"
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"Oh, indeed I do, Massa. You take good care of me. I's so happy."
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"Now, listen real good 'cause dis impotant. God said, thou shalt not steal from me, thou shalt not kill (unless I tell you to), thou shalt not stick another coon's wife (unless we tryin' to make some mo niggas), and nigga, whatever you do, thou shalt not even look like you want to stick a white woman, or we gon lynch yo black ass. You here me, nigga?"
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"Oh yes, Massa. We know dat! But Massa, I thought you said thou shalt not kill?"
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"Dat means people, fool - real people! Dat don't go for niggas. God wants us to keep you in yo place."
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"Dat's right, Massa. We sho gotta keep niggas in dey place. No tellin' what a happen if we let dese niggas git loose. God so smart."
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"I said shut up, nigga, and listen to the word."
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"The next thing you got to learn is, whatever happens on this plantation is God's will bein' done. And if you listen to me, you'll get to live like I do when you die and go to Heaven."
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"Live like you, massa? A nigga ain't got no business livin' dat good. What a Po nigga like me gon do with all this? You know I ain't got sense enough to run nothin' like this."
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"Just shut up, nigga!" When you dead you gon get some sense - the lord gon give it to you. The Lord can do anything, even give sense to a nigga. And he gon give you all the other niggas you gon need to help you in the fields, too."
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"Massa, you so good to me! Thank you for tellin' me all dis. I'm gon be a good nigga - the best nigga you ever seened. Look, I'm gon pray for you right now, and thank the Lord for givin' me so good a massa."
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"Shut up and get up off your knees, ya dumb nigga! The fields need tendin'! You pray to the Lord on your own time. God don't won't you talkin' to him when you s'pose to be workin'."
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"A couse, Massa. What I been thinkin'? I's so dumb. I don't know why you put up with me, Sir."
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"How many times I got to tell you to shut the hell up, nigga?"
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"Yes Sir, I's a shuttin', Massa. I's a shuttin', right now."
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"Now get yo ass out there in that field and let's get some work done around here . . . Oh, and Toby, have yo woman meet me in the barn. I need to tell her 'bout the Lord too."
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"Yes sir, Massa."
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"And another thing, Toby, if my momma come a lookin', tell her I'm playin' in my tree house."
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"Why you gon go fibbin' to yo momma, Mr. Tommy? She knows you like to sit wit Lou Ann."
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"Just shut up, nigga, and do what I said! And tell Lou Ann to wear that pretty dress I like, cause we gon be talkin' 'bout the Lord, so it's gon be like chuch."
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"Yes Sir, Mr. Tommy." . . . "Whaaaaaaat a friend we have in Jeeeeesus . . ."

Society Of Professional Journalists

Eric L. Wattree

Strive To Become Your Own Hero... Then Let No One Remove Your Cape.

BIO

Eric L. Wattree is a writer, poet, and musician, born in Los Angeles. He’s been a columnist for The Los Angeles Sentinel, Black Star News, The Atlanta Post, and is a member of the Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists (http://www.spj.org/). He’s also the author of "A Message From the Hood."Some of the greatest minds I’ve ever known held court while sitting on empty milk crates in the parking lots of ghetto liquor stores, while some of the weakest minds I’ve ever known roamed the halls of academia in pursuit of credentials over knowledge.Eric L. Wattreehttp://www.whohub.com/wattree

OBAMA ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Obama's Contrubution To America

My Political Persuasion

"YOUR BROTHER, IS THE MAN WHO THINKS LIKE YOU" - UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS.

WHAT A MAN THINKS, IS WHO HE IS. THINK LIKE A MARINE - STRONG, RESOLUTE, AND WITH HONOR.

GOP CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH YET?

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The Hater

Am I a hater, you ask? You're damn right I'm a hater. I hate injustice. I hate hypocrisy. I also hate demagoguery, apathy, and the stupidity that allows it to exist. Hater? Absolutely. I'm a big time hater. I hate what I see happening to this country, and I hate watching the development of a culture that embraces ignorance with a stupid sense of pride. So yes, I am indeed a hater, but not only that - I'm a hater with a very low threshold for bullshit, so step off.